Canada confirms hantavirus case linked to cruise ship that killed 3
Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship raises concerns as passengers return to U.S.
Fox News Senior Medical Analyst Dr. Marc Siegel discusses the hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, where three deaths occurred. Siegel explains that while human-to-human spread is rare, it is not impossible. The segment highlights the return of passengers to the United States from destinations like Tenerife and Praia, raising new public health concerns and highlighting the need for a lockdown.
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Canadian health authorities confirmed Sunday that one of four Canadians who returned from the MV Hondius cruise ship, the subject of an international hantavirus outbreak in the Andes, had tested positive for hantavirus. Three people linked to the outbreak have died.
The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test after British Columbia’s top public health official described the case as “presumptive positive.”
“One individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus,” the agency said in a statement.
Officials said additional testing would be done at a national laboratory. It was not immediately clear whether these tests were intended for confirmation, strain characterization or another purpose.
CRUISE PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE
Experts say cruise outbreaks are getting more attention because of public reporting rules, but many travelers still plan to sail as planned. (Myloupe/Universal Images Group)
The development comes as global health officials continue to monitor the rare hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius, which sickened several passengers.
As of May 13, the World Health Organization said 11 cases had been identified in connection with the cruise outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case. These figures included three deaths. The Associated Press later reported that the Canadian confirmation brought to 10 the number of people on the ship who had tested positive.
Canadian health officials said four Canadians returned home from the MV Hondius, although only one tested positive for the virus.
RARE INTERMEDIATE TRANSMISSION OF HANTAVIRUS SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 DIED
The rare Andes virus, which has been linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known strain of hantavirus capable of spreading from person to person, usually through close, prolonged contact. (Andrés Gutiérrez/Anadolu)
The confirmed patient and a traveling companion – identified as a Yukon couple in their 70s – returned from the cruise together. The companion later tested negative, officials said.
A third person in their 60s from Vancouver Island remains in isolation, along with a British Columbia resident in their 50s.
So far, no confirmed cases in the United States linked to the cruise ship have been reported, although the WHO said on May 13 that a passenger repatriated to the United States had inconclusive laboratory results and was undergoing further testing.
HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASE
Pictured is the MV Hondius, the cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak after a stopover in Argentina that left three people dead. (Europa Press Canaries via Getty Images)
However, last week, health officials in Ontario County, New York, announced they were investigating a suspected locally acquired case of hantavirus unrelated to the cruise ship.
The Ontario County Department of Public Health said there is no risk to the general public. Officials also said the strain typically seen in the United States does not spread from person to person.
The outbreak linked to the MV Hondius began after the Dutch cruise ship, carrying 147 passengers and crew, left Argentina on April 1 for a trip to the South Atlantic.
TRAPPED CRUISE PASSENGERS SHARE UPDATE ON SHIP CLEANLINESS AMID DEADLY HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK
The outbreak has prompted heightened precautions internationally, including in the Netherlands, where Radboud University Medical Center quarantined 12 staff members after officials said blood and urine from a hantavirus patient were not processed under the strictest protocols recommended for the virus strain.
The outbreak has also sparked comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital that there is “no comparison.”
He emphasized that hantavirus is difficult to spread.
Passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship Hondius walk with their belongings after disembarking at Eindhoven Air Base, Netherlands, May 12. (Piroschka van de Wouw)
“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets suspended in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to convey.”
While the coronavirus “has moved significantly toward humans,” hantavirus has not, except for “very rare” cases of human-to-human transmission, he added.
The World Health Organization has assessed the risk to the global population as low, although noting that current evidence suggests that subsequent human-to-human transmission may have occurred on board. Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to have documented person-to-person transmission, although such spread is considered rare.
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Siegel also noted that cases of hantavirus have been reported in the United States for decades, although they remain “very rare.”
Brittany Miller and Angelica Stabile of Fox News Digital and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
